Our web connection, my blog setup and your blog writing
Our Web Connection
They don’t call this a web for nuthin’. We’re all connected, sometimes in strange ways, by its invisible strings.
Seriously, the number of times that I write something, then read another post and blink with surprise that my message is right there on someone else’s blog wrapped up in different words – is astounding. The reverse is also true, just look at the comments in my posts – it seems at least once a day someone links me to a brilliant post they wrote that connects right in or exclaims, ‘I was just thinking/writing/talking about this!”
I absolutely love this. To me, it’s like the air around us is ripe with these ideas and we’re all just plucking them off the tree and making them ours. To share this brain and thought process with so many other people is like getting to swim in that pool with the pods in it in Cocoon – I think it actually feeds us and makes us better. Sometimes it even glows.
So, I was not shocked when I woke up this morning and saw Chris Brogan’s post on the necessity of purpose and focus for your blog, when I was sitting here with the guts of a post with a similar vein. My post is about my blog and about yours…
My Blog Setup
Well, really my whole site. Way back when I started my copywriting business, I thought it was all about the website – so I got one. And I loved it. When I quickly discovered the world of blogging, I dove in full force – for my clients – helping them write and leverage this platform for their own businesses. But I didn’t blog for myself.
Eventually, the uber-talented illustrator, Elizabeth Whelan – after hearing me go on and on about what blogging could do for a shared client we had, asked me where my blog was. Uh, er, um, well… She told me she wouldn’t speak to me again until my blog was up and running. THANK YOU, Elizabeth. I pulled a WordPress blog onto the writingroads.com site and my life hasn’t been the same since.
And then, recently, I’ve been finding myself in another one of these ‘do as I say, not as I do’ situations. I’m telling people left and right…
- to just build a blog, not a traditional website
- and add static pages
- for SEO purposes
- for ease of use, content management
- for UI (user interface) or VEO (visitor enhanced optimization)
- to use plugins for expansion and growth
- to maximize sidebar real estate
And the whole time, I’m eyeballing my blog with a sideways glance. The cobbler has no shoes, the therapist’s family is full of nutjobs, and yes, the blogger’s blog is out of whack.
So, finally, with the help of the lovely, Shauna Callaghan, I’ve redone my site – the right way. You might not even notice, because it’s likely you didn’t ever click on those typewriter keys up above that shot you over to the ‘web’site and off the blog. But now when you click on them, they keep you here whilst showcasing my work and services. And www.writingroads.com gets you here now as well (no more need for writingroads.com/blog). Ahhh…c’est fini! (besides the incessant tweaking I’m doing). My wish is that it’s easier now for visitors to know who I am and what I do…
What does your blog/site need? How can you tweak it so to perform better?
Your Blog Writing
The other thing on my mind is your blog. This morning, when I tweeted CB’s post about blog focus and purpose, I added this: “(and if you need help focusing/purposing, call me)” – and several people responded with messages that looked something like, “Please help me!!!” in varying degrees of agony.
So, I thought it was worth putting it out there, but this time here: I help you figure out the blogosphere by helping you answer these questions:
- What is my blog’s purpose?
- What is my blog’s theme?
- How do I define and rein in my scope?
- What do I write about?
- How do I write it?
- How do I focus my content and outreach?
- Should I talk to other bloggers?
- Which ones?
- How do I do that?
- What plugins do I need?
- What is a plugin?
- Do I need to use Twitter and Facebook?
- How do I ______? (fill in the blank)
- …and on and on.
Let me know if you need help…after all, with the way this web connectivity thing is going, you were probably just thinking about all of this anyway…
Image credit: Jeff Smallwood
Filed under Blogging, Critical Copywriting, How To, The Business | Tags: blog, blog content, blog purpose, blog setup, blog strategy, blog writing, Blogging, Chris Brogan, copywriting, social media, social media marketing, Writing | Comments (18)Blog content: trunks, branches, leaves
I just came across a post by Ari Herzog where he answers the question, ‘Should bloggers only blog about one topic or is it okay for them to talk about a lot of different things?’
I was relieved actually to see that his answer was quite liberal; he (with quote help from Jake Halpern) said that bloggers need to blog about what interests them. If the topics start to spread, so be it.
But, I have to add something to that. I agree that if you aren’t writing about your passions, then the writing will fall flat. Still, I think there has to be a tie that binds. It could be an industry, a product, a service, a genre, a person, a group, a pair of pants…something.
When I talk to companies/business about blog content strategy, I use the image of a tree. The blog’s main topic, your main theme is the trunk of the tree. All of the posts that you write are the branches and leaves of the tree.
Some posts will literally spring from the trunk, like those first two or three branches that separate and grow up and out.
Some posts will be quite far removed from the trunk, they’ll be those teeny tiny branches, fifty feet out, reaching into the sun – but they will still be connected to the trunk, they’re definitively part of the same tree.
And then you’ve got the posts that are everything else in between. But there’s always a connection, no matter how small.
Why is this important?
- You don’t want your readers to get lost or confused. Make them feel good and smart, not disoriented and dumb.
- You want to have a point. Otherwise you might end up sounding disoriented and dumb.
- If you’re blogging for business, it’s good to have a tie back to your product, service or industry. If your blogs purpose it to showcase your talents as a dance coach, I’m not sure how talking about the many ways to cook an egg will help you.
- You’re building a relationship with your readers. If you always blog about painting and suddenly throw in some posts about roller derbies, they’re going to feel a rift in the relationship. They might even feel abandoned and leave you comments like, ‘I don’t even know who you are anymore.’
I’m all for expanding your content. The more branches you create, the more likely you are to catch the web traffic blowing by in your tree. Just do your readers a favor and maintain your core connection.
Image credit: joiseyshowaa
Filed under Blogging, How To | Tags: blog content, blog marketing, blog strategy, Blogging, blogs | Comments (7)My favorite way to find content
So I’m talking to Chris Ming Ryan – he’s a video and content guy, and we live in the same blogging and social media world. We’re throwing ideas back and forth about a project we’re thinking about doing, and discussing life on this web in general. All of what he says is good, and then, he says something great.
And suddenly he hears what he’s said. And he exclaims, ‘Oh my god, that’s a post! I’ve gotta go! I’ve gotta go!’
He was only half kidding. Maybe a third. And we got off the phone pretty much right away.
Talk about what you do, talk about your industry, your goals, how you work – with someone that doesn’t know you or doesn’t know your area of expertise. When you talk to someone like that, you’ll be driven to think of new ways to explain or illustrate your thoughts. Have a pen and paper or keyboard handy.
You think all day, you might write all day – but how often do you talk about your usual topics? (Especially if you’re a freelancer or a solopreneur.) The three practices are very different and create quite different results.
Try it. Pick a topic. Think about it for an hour – see what you get. Write about it for an hour – see what you get. Talk about it (in conversation) for an hour – see what you get.
When you employ all three brilliant modes, your ideas – and your post content – will expand. Hey, it might even triple.
Image credit: Nikita Kashner
Filed under Blogging, How To, The Business | Tags: blog content, content, content creation, new ideas, Writing | Comment (0)what would i write about? thinking up good blog content
As you’re developing your writing strategy for your blog, you may want to break it down like this (I’m going to use a popcorn blog as an example because I’m hungry, I adore popcorn and last time I checked, popcorn wasn’t political):
- The Basics. Cover all the facts about popcorn – different kinds, standard recipes, gift ideas, special ingredients, health benefits, history of popcorn, favorite kernels, favorite poppers, etc.
- News. What’s new in the popcorn world? Did Orville Redenbacher discover a carb-less cookie? Has Cuisinart invented a hybrid popper? Was the world record for biggest kernel just popped? (sorry I absolutely had to do that)
- Personal Experience. As you were popping corn today, what did you notice? How did your latest recipe turn out? Which brands do kids love, which do they abhor? (Hopefully that nasty microwaveable kind with the fake butter).
- How To’s. How to start a popcorn business. How to keep the popcorn from going stale. How to make the perfect bowl of popcorn every time.
- Guests and Features. And here come your opportunities to connect to your community. Invite chefs, parents, popcorn companies, kitchenware companies, kids, teachers, other bloggers, etc. to your blog to increase its content, information and value (and to cross promote and drive traffic).
- Contests. Everyone loves a contest (though not this crowd so much – what’s up with that?)…but popcorn people definitely do. Give things away, raise money with a raffle, donate funds to a cause, partner with another site…the opportunities are endless.
My advice? Write what you know and write to people that don’t know as much as you do, write to people interested in your field. Hell, even if they know as much or more than you know, they don’t know it like you know it so they’ll learn from you and it’s a great opportunity to learn from them. Make your mark by being completely you. Twenty people could write about Smart Food and they would all sound different and they would all resonate with different readers…like a poem, if you will.
I know this is no big secret, but I’m going to say it anyway: there are a lot of people in this world and many of them are online, reading blogs even. And because there are so many readers, the people who care about what you are writing will find you…and you will find them. I swear, it just happens that way.
Filed under Blogging, How To | Tags: blog, blog content, blog writing, Blogging, copywriting, freelance writer, how to blog, Julie Roads, marketing writer, Writing Roads | Comment (0)
